1 CHARLESTON 1/4/86 Popular 1920s dance from U.S.A. Relates to the piano playing of both George Gershwin and Ron Reah. 3:28
2 MAXIXE 25/12/85 Brazilian dance, the forerunner of the samba. Ancestry lies in the piano works of Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934). 2:54
3 RAMBLE 21/10/85 Title from Percy Grainger. A microdot operatic transcription revealing a post-romantic concern with extravagant counterpoint and visionary gesture. 4:20
4 DUB 26/10/85 Unextravagant skeletal reggae. The house next door used to contain a late-night reggae club. 2:58
5 MAMBO 11/8/85 Afro-Cuban style from 1940s — those of Perez Prado are the best known. Parsons' compositions explore a restricted area of information and are often rhythmically challenging. 3:23
6 NOCTURNE 27/1/86 The colourful hothouse variety associated with early 20th century British residents (Sorabji, par excellence) constituting almost the opposite of Bartok. 4:32
7 BOSSA NOVA 1/8/85 Brazilian jazz samba from 1950s as defined by the guitar rhythms of Joao Gilberto and the compositions of Antonio Carlos Jobim. Skemptonian in economy and apparent simplicity. 2:56
8 BOOMERANGS 9/6/86 The musical material is only capable of repetition and transposition and relates to no genre in particular. For an Australian. 2:52
9 QUASI TAMBURA 13/6/86 Title from 53rd variation of the Passacaglia from Sorabji's 'Opus Clavicembalisticum'. Tambura is an Indian drone-like instrument. 4:33
10 TANGO 22/6/85 Argentinian rather than Spanish or Brazilian. For Mikhashoff's Tango collection: the first of the set to be written. 3:00
11 THELONIOUS 5/1/86 A tribute to the great jazz pianist. Contains the most demanding instruction of the set- 'Play like Thelonious Monk' 2:37
12 ALLEGRO BARBARO 30/7/85 Salvaged from an unfinished piece for Javanese gamelan. Alkan, Bartok and Leo Ornstein provide the precedents. 2:56